Human rights and Egyptian LGBT rights organizations haven't
been able to independently confirm the number of people arrested or the six men
alleged to have undergone anal examinations, which are illegal according to
international law, reported Amnesty International.

However, 17 men accused of homosexuality were charged with "debauchery"
and "incitement to debauchery" and faced a closed-door hearing October
1, reported Al Bawaba.

According to Human Rights Watch, the Dokki Misdemeanor Court
in Giza sentenced one unidentified detained individual to six years in prison
and a fine for debauchery and inciting debauchery for being among those who
raised the rainbow flag at the concert. The court also sentenced the individual
to an additional six years probation, requiring the individual to regularly report
to police until 2029.

The individual did not have legal representation at the
trial.

The individual has now obtained an attorney and is appealing
the judgment. A hearing is set for October 11.

HRW attempted to corroborate news reports that at least 14
men arrested in two separate instances September 27 and 28 were scheduled for
trial October 1. However, the organization couldn't verify the reports.

At least 22 people have been arrested since the concert,
Dalia Abdel Hamid of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, a Cairo-based
human rights organization, told Middle East Eye.

It isn't illegal to be gay in Egypt, but the Muslim-majority
country is very conservative and anti-gay. Police crackdowns are routine and
involve authorities raiding gay gatherings and arresting men, charging them
with anti-prostitution and debauchery laws that date from the 1950s and 1960s.

The most high-profile incident was when the Queen Boat. The
gay-friendly floating nightclub on the Nile was raided in 2011 and 52 men were
arrested. More recently, last year 11 men suspected of being gay were sentenced
to 12 years in prison for inciting debauchery.

Mashrou Leila is a Lebanese indie rock band whose lead
singer, Hamed Sinno, is gay. The band's music often addresses issues such as
homophobia, politics, sexism, sexual freedom, social justice, and religion.

The band performed, along with a band from Jordan and a
local Egyptian band, in Cairo September 22, according to Mashrou Leila's
statement posted on Facebook late October 2 after news of the arrests.

During the concert, which was attended by an estimated
35,000 people, several groups of individuals raised rainbow flags. Videos of
the flags went viral, sparking a heated debate about LGBT rights throughout the
country.

In the statement, band members said they were
"heartbroken" that their music was being "used to scapegoat yet
another crackdown by the government." They denounced the men's arrests,
the hate speech spread by the government and media outlets, and apathy.

A week passed as the band members gathered and sorted
through false news reports filled with hate speech and weighed inflaming the
situation any further, they wrote. However, they realized that the "state
apparatus is hell-bent on executing the most atrocious of human
violations."

"It is sickening to think that all this hysteria has
been generated over a couple of kids raising a piece of cloth that stands for
love," wrote the band, apologizing to its fans that the Egyptian
government was using its concert as an excuse to attack them.

The band, in a release, called for an international campaign
for Egypt to halt its ongoing witch-hunt of LGBT people and release the
detainees.

M-Coalition, a local HIV/AIDS organization, called on
supporters to use #WeAreStillStrong in their messages, reported Gay Star News.

The Egyptian Musicians Syndicate opened an investigation
into the event, and Mashrou Leila has been banned from hosting future
performances in Egypt, reported HRW.

Amnesty International, Egyptian Initiative for Personal
Rights, and HRW also denounced the crackdown in Egypt.

Sarah Leah Whitson, director of the Middle East and North
Africa at HRW, and Najia Bounaim, North Africa campaigns director at Amnesty
International, demanded the detainees be released.

"The Egyptian government, by rounding people up based
on their presumed sexual orientation, is showing flagrant disregard for their
rights," Whitson said in a September 30 statement from the organization.

Bounaim called Egypt's public prosecutor's "hunting
down people based on their perceived sexual orientation ... utterly
deplorable."

Appeal filed on behalf of Lively

Even though he won his case, anti-gay pastor Scott Lively is
appealing the decision.

Liberty Counsel filed the appeal on Lively's behalf October
3 with the First U.S. District Court of Appeals.

The appeal is an attempt to strike "prejudicial
language" in federal Judge
Michael A. Ponsor's June 5 ruling and dismissal of the case brought against
Lively by Sexual Minorities Uganda, also known as SMUG.

In its lawsuit, SMUG charged Lively with crimes against
humanity for his work against gays in the African country.

Liberty Counsel claims that the court lacked jurisdiction on
SMUG's claims and called for Ponsor's conclusions about Lively's faith "
without even a pretense of legal or factual analysis"
to be struck from the court's opinion, according to a news release.

The legal organization cited Ponsor's findings that Lively
"supplied no financial backing, directed no physical
violence, hired no employees and he provided no supplies or other material
support," according to the release.

"Today we defend Pastor
Scott Lively's name in the Court of Appeals and work to remedy Judge Ponsor's shameful
diatribe against Lively's Christian values and beliefs," said Horatio
Mihet, Liberty Counsel's vice president of legal affairs and chief litigation
counsel. He was referring to Ponsor's statements in his opinion calling Lively
a "crackpot bigot," among other things, according to the release.

"Once Judge Ponsor
concluded that he lacked jurisdiction over SMUG's preposterous lawsuit, the
only thing left to do was dismiss it. However, instead he chose to include an
unnecessary tirade of words against the pastor," Mihet said.

The Center for Constitutional Rights, which represented
SMUG, responded to Lively's appeal.

"We believe Lively's appeal of a ruling he actually won
– because of language in the opinion he objects to – to be
meritless and have filed a motion to dismiss it with the Court of
Appeals," said CCR senior staff attorney Pamela Spees. "Moreover, the
notion that the court's ruling amounts to an attack on his 'Christian values
and beliefs' is an attempt to district from his attacks on the basic,
fundamental rights to equality and free speech of LGBT people in Uganda and
elsewhere."

First gay couple weds in Germany

Karl Kreile, 59, and Bodo Mende, 60, tied the knot October 1,
becoming Germany's first gay couple to wed as the new law took effect.

The couple, who have been together since 1979, exchanged
vows and cut a rainbow cake during a ceremony at Schoeneberg town hall in
Berlin.

"This is an emotional moment with great
symbolism," Kreile told reporters. "The transition to the term
'marriage' shows that the German state recognizes us as real equals."

The marriage equality law also granted adoption rights to
same-sex couples. The first adoption was expected to occur Wednesday, Joerg
Steinert, who is the head of the Berlin branch of Germany's LGBT association,
told ABC News.

However, there is a technical glitch in Germany's marriage
registration system. The system, even after next year's upgrade, won't be able
to reflect the genders in accordance to the new law. Kreile and Mende are sorting
out who will register as "man" and who will register as
"woman," reported ABC.

Other German city marriage offices specially opened Sunday
to perform same-sex weddings, according to media reports.